Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster, Ron Hays, is back talking with the president of Angus Genetics, Inc. (AGI), Kelli Retallick-Riley, about genomic progress in the beef cattle industry.
The use of EPDs and EBVs in the Angus industry dates back to the 1970s and has increased significantly. Only four were used back then compared with 26 today. Now, the focus is on improving the accuracy of the tools available.
Retallick-Riley said that EPDs come in handy in identifying genetic markers isolated from environmental components to success, such as good management practices, to be more sure of selecting herd sires.
“When you start to layer on things like genomics and all of the phenotypes that our producers have sent in, on average, we are going to increase our accuracies by almost a whole calf crop’s worth of data. One, they are selling as yearling bulls because our database with genomics coupled with the phenotypes is so powerful that we are able to do that in the Angus breed,” she said.
Genomics were incorporated into Angus EPDs beginning in 2010, and have quickly accelerated. “That is also when we went to weekly genetic evaluation so we can get those updated readily,” Retallick-Riley stated. “Previous to that, we only updated that genetic evaluation twice per year. From a timing perspective of our producers and commercial cattlemen trying to buy bulls, sometimes all the information wasn’t in that EPD calculation when they were ready to purchase that animal. Now, with weekly genetic evaluations, we can make sure that we get all the information into the hands of a buyer that they need.”
Cattlemen using genomics can expect the added benefits of getting early accuracy on cattle and feeling better about accepting greater risks when selecting sires with the assurance of accelerated genetic progress.
“When we combine the pedigree, the performance data, and the genomic, we can predict a whole year’s worth of calf crop,” Retallick-Riley said excitedly. “When you look at tools like calving ease and birth weight, it’s between fifteen to twenty calves of accuracy that we have once we have all of this information in the system on a yearling bull.”
Additionally, AGI continues to work on maternal trait EPDs and three new traits expected to go into production in May 2025 are functional longevity, teat size, and udder health.
Functional longevity deals with predicting early how long a cow may be able to produce calves. Retallick-Riley noted that many bulls are used up before their daughters are mothering calves, so knowing more about the teat size and udder health of their daughters ahead of time can help producers identify bulls that produce better cows early on.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
